


Cruciatus

by StilinskiDreams



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: BAMF Tina Goldstein, Brotherly Love, Cinnamon Roll Newt Scamander, Cruciatus, Hurt Newt Scamander, Movie 2: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Spoilers, Newt whump, Poor Jacob has no idea what the heck is going on, Protective Theseus Scamander, Seriously though huge spolier alert, Torture, newtina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-28 00:36:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17172512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StilinskiDreams/pseuds/StilinskiDreams
Summary: ***ON HOLD***A re-imagining of the climactic scene in Crimes of Grindelwald. What if Grindelwald had acted a little more strongly on his threats toward Newt?***Edit***Now that the movie is available to stream, I rewatched and realized not all of this plot makes sense. Consider it a slight au. Thanks for reading!





	1. Chapter 1

“Do you think Dumbledore will mourn for you?” 

Newt tensed, mentally preparing for whatever Grindelwald was about to do. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Theseus moving toward him protectively.

“Or perhaps it would trouble him more if you were… tortured a bit first?”

Newt heard Theseus’ sharp intake of breath behind him as he felt panic bubbling up in his stomach. Surely Grindelwald didn’t mean-

“CRUCIO!”

Newt spasmed, screaming as he fell to the ground in agony, excruciating pain blinding his every sense. Theseus saw red. He began ferociously hurling spells at the dark wizard, one after another, all of which were easily deflected.

“CRUCIO! CRUCIO!”

Grindelwald was laughing. Theseus was screaming at him. Tina was crying and poor Jacob just stared, stunned and confused. After a few minutes, although it felt like it’d been hours, Newt stopped screaming. Now he simply writhed violently, eyes rolling back in his head. It was much worse.

Newt could barely register all of the deafening noise. He was in too much pain. His bones were splitting apart; his blood was on fire. White hot lightning shot through his entire body and exploded in his head. Each movement was a thousand knives in his flesh. His every nerve was screaming for relief as his mind desperately tried to black out. This was too much pain. More than anyone could endure. He was going to die… he wanted to die. He wasn’t dead yet; death couldn’t hurt this much. He lost the energy to scream. He silently begged someone to kill him, to end it...

“CRUCIO!” Grindelwald sounded almost bored this time, although no less feral.

Theseus’ throat was raw from screaming. Tina was literally holding him back from launching himself at Grindelwald. He would do anything to stop this. He knew that the cruciatus curse didn’t cause death, at least not in any case he'd heard of, but it could cause irreparable damage. Even if it couldn’t, Theseus would do anything to take this pain away from Newt. He was surprised his little brother was even still conscious. Theseus had never seen someone subjected to this torture for so long without a break. He’d heard that the experience was debilitating even just for a few seconds…. and how long had it been? He wasn’t sure how much more Newt could take. Grindelwald didn't even want information… He was just torturing Newt for the sake of torture. Theseus felt sick; head pounding with rage.

Theseus glanced over at the muggle. Jacob had a hand on Newt’s thrashing form, looking as horrified as Theseus felt; although significantly more confused. Theseus struggled against Tina’s hold again, but she stood firm. He felt her gasp behind him and turned to see Queenie suddenly entering Grindelwald’s circle, quickly followed by Credence. Theseus instinctively looked to Newt, whose shock was just barely noticeable over the pain in his eyes. Jacob was yelling, but he didn’t leave Newt’s side. Theseus tried not to panic when Newt’s eyes fluttered shut again. He instead turned his attention back to Grindelwald and resumed his attack, knowing full well that he had no chance of actually stopping the man. He had to try though. He had to do something.

“CRUCIO!”

Newt heaved. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move, although his body seemed to be moving on its own. Long, agonizing moments passed. His eyes blinked open painfully when he heard Leta’s voice and he looked around blearily, vision refusing to focus. Then, suddenly, the torture stopped. Newt gasped at the drastic change and felt himself fall completely limp, causing Jacob to shout and shake him in a panic. He didn’t have the energy to respond. The sudden lack of torment felt unfamiliar, almost chaotic. He didn’t know how to process it. All he could think about was exhaustion. It took him several moments to realize that the hell had stopped because Grindelwald had turned his wand elsewhere. To Leta. He locked eyes with her just in time to see her mouthing “I love you”, and watched in horror as her form disintegrated into ash, right in front of him. Tears leaked out of his eyes. Everything moved in slow motion; the world spun lazily, groggily around him. He weakly pushed himself up, ignoring Jacob’s protests. 

Tina finally let go of Theseus. He turned to make eye contact with Newt, expression heavy with grief. Theseus had some unspoken communication with Tina, who grabbed Jacob’s hand and disapparated. Theseus quickly put his arms around Newt, as if to protect him from the disapparation itself, and followed her lead.


	2. Chapter 2

Newt stumbled immediately upon landing back on the ground, and Theseus reached out a steadying hand.

“Newt, Grindelwald is going to destroy Paris if we don’t stop him. Stay back - I’ll take you home as soon as I can-”

“I’m quite alright, I assure...”

“Newt, don’t.”

“Theseus, we’ll need all the help we can get.”

Theseus sighed, knowing he couldn’t argue that fact. He nodded and hesitantly removed his hand from his brother's trembling form. “Ok. Let’s go.” Theseus forced himself to focus on his magic, glancing at his brother as they thrust their wands into the earth, screaming “FINITE!” in perfect sync. The sky filled with brilliant, mesmerizing light. Theseus shuddered with the intensity of the magic coursing through him, distracted by a million thoughts running through his mind. The job was done. They had protected Paris but Grindelwald escaped, and Leta-

Theseus tried to cut off his own train of thought. Tears streamed down his face. He turned to Newt, suddenly needing to reassure himself that his brother was alright.

“Newt, are you-” 

Before he could finish, Newt had stumbled over and pulled him into a fierce hug. “I’ve chosen my side.” His gentle admission and unexpected touch had Theseus choking back a sob. He knew how uncomfortable Newt was with this kind of physical contact. Newt’s presence was so warm and affectionate in that moment that Theseus never wanted to let go. “I’m sorry, Theseus. I’m sorry.” Theseus didn’t know what Newt was apologizing for, but he just pulled him in tighter anyway. He gripped the back of his brother’s coat and buried his face in his shoulder. Newt did not move to break the embrace. “Are you alright?” 

Theseus let out a wet laugh. “I should be asking you! Oh my god, Newt, I’m so sorry… I couldn’t stop him… I couldn’t do anything…” 

“Please don’t. Don’t do that. You’re not to blame.” Newt finally pulled away to look Theseus in the eyes very seriously. Theseus nodded. He suddenly realized how tightly he was gripping Newt’s arms, as if holding on for dear life. He loosened his grasp immediately.

“I’m not hurting you, am I?” 

Newt smiled weakly. “Only a little.” 

Theseus shook his head in disbelief. He let go of Newt’s arms and tensed when he instantly swayed. “Newt-”

“M’fine… don’t worry. I’m… perfectly…” He trailed off as his legs buckled, and he collapsed forward into Theseus’ arms, almost pulling his brother down with him.

“NEWT!? Newt, come on-” Theseus struggled under the unexpected weight.

Tina must have heard the commotion they were making because she soon found her way over to the brothers with Jacob in tow. “Newt! Theseus, what happened?” 

Theseus was struck by the overwhelming concern in her eyes. Maybe she and Newt were closer than he realized. “I don’t know, he just passed out in the middle of talking.”

“Is he ok?” Jacob looked petrified. 

Tina tried to reassure herself as much as Jacob. “He’ll be fine. He just needs to recover from exposure to the cruciatus curse and the disapparation.” 

“And the protection spell,” Theseus added.

Tina whipped her head around. “What? He performed the spell too? Don't you know how much exertion it requires?”

Theseus frowned defensively. “I told him not to. He insisted.” 

She sighed. “I’m sorry, I’m just-”

“Worried, I know. I am too.” Theseus gently laid Newt on the ground as Tina took off her jacket and laid it under his head. Pickett climbed out of Newt’s coat pocket, looking distraught.

“Can’t you just, you know, magic him to a hospital?” Jacob offered.

“Disapparating would be too dangerous. He’ll get splinched. It’s a miracle he wasn’t splinched on the way here.” Tina looked to Theseus for support when Jacob protested.

“She’s right. Besides, there’s nothing the hospital can do. He needs rest. Is there somewhere we can walk from here?”

Tina shrugged. “He said something about a safehouse, but I don’t know where. We might need to wake him up.” 

“I’ve been there, but I followed Flamel here. I don’t know the address…” Jacob confessed.

“Where’s Flamel now?” Tina asked urgently.

“I dunno…”

Theseus sighed. He jumped slightly when he suddenly noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, relaxing when he spotted one of Newt’s nifflers limping toward them. Theseus winced at the creature’s burn marks. The niffler crawled over to Newt, letting out a loud whine. Newt’s eyes blinked open lazily. He looked around dazedly until his eyes fell on the injured creature. “Hey, it’s ok. Come here, I’ve got you.” He grimaced in pain as he pushed himself upward and cradled the niffler in his arms. Theseus moved to support him and hold him up, knowing Newt wouldn’t listen if told to stay still. 

“Newt, how are you feeling?” Newt blinked at the sound of Tina’s voice.

“Tina!” He smiled fondly at her.

Tina couldn’t help but smile back at him. “Newt, where’s the safehouse? The one you were telling me about? We need to get you there.” Newt reached for a piece of paper in his pocket and offered it to her. Her eyes quickly scanned over the address before he grabbed her hand.

“Tina, I'm sorry. Queenie and Credence...” Newt's expression was deeply pained.

Tina smiled, eyes brimming with tears. “Don't worry about that right now, ok?”

Newt suddenly gasped and pitched forward, clearly trying to stifle his pained moans. Theseus lunged to keep him upright.“Newt? What’s wrong?” 

“My head…” He groaned.

“His head? What’s wrong with his head?” Tina sounded panicked. Jacob gently felt around the back of Newt’s scalp until he yelped in pain. Jacob pulled his hand away, horrified to find it dotted with blood. Theseus paled.

“When he first fell… after Grindelwald… that curse... he must have hit his head… stone...” Jacob trembled slightly, stumbling over his words. 

“He’ll be ok, right? It's probably not as bad as it looks. He probably just has a concussion, don't you think? Theseus?” Tina’s voice wavered. 

Theseus ignored her. “Dittany. Do we have any dittany?” He continued to hold his brother upright as Newt leaned into his chest. Theseus instinctively started to card a hand through Newt’s hair, carefully avoiding his injury.

“Newt does, in his case…” 

“Where’s his case?” Theseus demanded. He finally looked up as he waited impatiently for her to respond.

Tina looked at him fearfully. “I think he sent it to the safehouse.”

**Author's Note:**

> What do you think? I'd love to hear your feedback. I really like writing these characters. I've never tried writing anything in the HP universe until now, but I decided to take a shot at it.


End file.
